To make government entities and employees credible and transparent, President Joseph N. Boakai has launched the Employee Status Regularization Project (ESRP) and unveiled the first batch of consultants of government at the Ministry of Information.
“The Employee Status Regularization Project is to make government efficient, transparent and avoid loss of millions of dollars to ghost names, double-dippers,” President Boakai said in a patriotic tone.
The exercise of employees’ verification for the 29 government entities was conducted by the Director General of Civil Service Agency, Josiah F. Joekai, Jr., to know government’s total employees and practice accountability and transparency.
As a result, in June 2024 the Civil Service Agency provided the first set of progressive reports from the on-going Employee Status Regularization Project (ESRP) that covered three government spending entities: Ministry of Mines and Energy, Liberia Institute for Public Administration, the National Centre for Coordination and Response Mechanism.
“The report showed gross misuse and abuse of government resources,” Director Joekai stated, “with illegal salary payments to ghosts, double-dippers, and duplicated accounts.”
During the verification and head count of employees at the Ministry of Mine and Energy, the CSA’s head said 40 employees were dismissed for not showing up for work for 14 to 20 days; one employee was suspended without pay for one month for not showing up for work for eight or twelve working days; and warning letters were issued to 10 employees for not coming to work for five to seven consecutive days.
At the Liberia Institute for Public Administration, he added, 28 employees were dismissed for not showing up for work for 14 to 20 days for each of the three months covered based on the attendance record.
“We suspended 30 employees without pay for not showing up for work for eight to 12 consecutive days, and issued three employees warning letters for not showing up for work for five to seven consecutive days,” the CSA Director told the President, cabinet ministers and journalists at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing.
“At the National Coordination for Response Mechanism, CSA found no evidence of 12 individuals to be in the employ of the entity, who received illegal payments from October to December 2023, the amount of US$25,780,” Director Joekai said.
According to him, the CSA requested the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to investigate the former executive director and the comptroller at the entity for such illegal payments and to advise the CSA for appropriate action to be taken.
He informed the President that the actions taken by the CSA are in line with civil service rules and the human resource policy manual, adding that the LACC has said that the investigation is getting wider. As it makes inquiry, more people are being invited for questioning.
“…We urged the LACC to bring the matter to logical and legal conclusion,” he added. “Additionally, we call on the human resource directors and financial comptrollers of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Liberia Institute for Public Administration, the National Coordinator of the Response Mechanism to report themselves to the Solicitor General and the Justice Minister at Ministry of Justice for their alleged involvement in financial malpractices.”
For justice dispensation and to erect the checkpoint, the CSA and the Ministry of Justice are collaborating to make sure that the financial malpractices are investigated expeditiously.
In a related development, Director Joekai mesmerized the President, ministers and journalists that due to the verification of employees that dismissed some and discovered ghost names and double-dippers, the government will realize in annual saving US$488,816.82.
“I am pleased that the CSA has completed employee physical verification and head count at central offices of 29 government spending entities. Of the 29, the CSA has blocked unverified employees from 14 of the 29 spending entities. Going forward, the government will save the amount of US$490,828.24 as a result of the decision. CSA has blocked 689 individuals with duplicate national entity from 29 spending entities. This strategy was taken after our employee verification. 54 of those names with different national identification from four spending entities. So far, of the 689, only two individuals showed up for verification. That means, the remaining 687 are potential ghosts,” he said as the audience cheered him with a hand applaud.
As a direct result by the blocking action by the CSA, he said that the government will save US$223,213.84 monthly, and US$2.6 million annually. He, however, thanked government for providing the first support, noting that the CSA is working to remove fraud and abuse from government institutions.
For the reform to be permanent in the governance structure, he revealed that there are almost 300 audit reports at the House of Representatives, without hearing into the merit and demerit of holding perpetrators accountable.
“I will propose to your office, Mr. President, that you kindly engage with the House of Representatives on the House’s Committee on Public Account to hold hearing on these audit reports for expenditure prosecution for perpetrators; if this is not done, your excellency, our current reform effort will be a drop in a bucket and corruption will continue to impede our national recovery policy,” he said.
For consultancy, he stated that the government has recruited 100 experts who are qualified in various specialties, retrospecting that by this time last year the previous administration has recruited 1,000 plus consultants, many of whom were casual laborers. He added that the consultants are specialized doctors, lawyers, and so on, who will help the government succeed.
However, President Boakai said that nobody came to government witch-hunting or to witch-hunt anybody, “but If our country has to move forward… we have to make thing right. I know we are all human beings. I told people it is not about the next elections; it is about the next generation. You see our country, all the resources that we have will be vanishing, and you say ‘don’t touch that person,’” President Boakai said.
